Letter From DC: World May Be Going to Hell, But the Natives Get Their City Back

Congress's August recess is always a welcome relief for
native Washingtonians as the city returns to a bygone era of its small Southern
city roots. DC empties of senators and representatives
and their staffs, lobbyists head to the beaches of North Carolina’s Outer Banks
and their trophy beach houses in Rehoboth and Dewey in Delaware, and just about
everybody else ditches town for holiday.

Things just slow down and those who stay behind relish the re-emergence of the city’s core identity and ethos free of the partisan
transients.

It’s a stark contrast to New York City’s
summer where the anxiety level seems to rise with the annual August evacuation
of the city’s psychiatrists and therapists. Being stuck in the steel canyons of a hot and muggy Manhattan
without your shrink can be pretty harrowing.

In DC, the headlines become less pressing.

The
loss of 30 American troops, 23 of whom were Navy SEALs, in Afghanistan
when their Chinook helicopter was downed by a Taliban RPG attack.

The
rioting in London that appears
to be without a clear agenda aside from the opportunity for “Pure terror
and havoc & Free stuff. Just
smash shop windows and cart out da stuff u want.” Call it the Flat Screen Revolution.

The
volatility in U.S.
and European financial markets this week with the graph trajectory of a
yo-yo. With the downgrade of the U.S.’s
credit prompted by the debt ceiling fiasco, it may be time for "Told ya
so."

The
utter loss in confidence of Americans in their federal government. A poll from CNN has only 14% of those
surveyed approving of Congress and a Washington Post poll revealed that
only 17% of those asked thought their own representatives should be
re-elected in 2012.

Sarah
Palin going to Iowa for her
perpetual Presidential tease. She’s
looking forward to “some of that famous fried butter-on-a-stick, fried
cheesecake-on-a-stick, fried Twinkies, etc,” she e-mailed. Good to have an agenda.

You’d think that with the nation, and much of the world,
going straight to hell, DC would be on edge and saturated with its sense of
self-importance. Not in August.

There
are no lines at the coffee shops and people smile, are patient, and
re-discover their manners with “pardon me” and “please, go ahead.”

A
Presidential motorcade to Ted’s Bulletin for homemade pop tarts on
Barracks Row is kind of cool, rather than an inconvenience and source of
ire.

The Washington Post becomes thinner and
less “he said, she said” with solid efforts at sober analysis without
political scorekeeping.

There
are actual parking spots available in Georgetown.

Rush
hour? What rush hour?

Lines
are short at the Smithsonian museums with security check-in personnel
pleasant and helpful and European tourists remarking how polite and nice
people are in DC.

You
don’t have to wait for a BBQ at the pool.

When a
car breaks down on Pennsylvania Avenue,
folks help push it to the side, rather than lay on their horns and spackle
their windshields with spittle.

You
can get a reservation at the restaurant you want at the time you want.

Despite
the dog days of August, you get breaks in the humidity that eliminate your
sweat output and you actually consider shutting down the AC and opening
the windows.

No
uptight gray suits and those that inhabit them.

The
interns are out of their summer money, so they’re out of the bars, out of
Pabst Blue Ribbon, and out of energy to scream like they’re back at Alpha
Sigma Sigma (ASS).

It’s
quiet in the city at night with a lovely setting for that backyard
martini.

We’ve got another week or two of this bliss, this charming
city with beautiful architectural aesthetics, lush greenery, and a native
population that smiles knowingly at one another in appreciation of Congress’s
recess.

Be nice to make it to Labor Day, but DC schools and colleges
are ramping up for their upcoming year, so back-to-school exercises and the
exchange in housing between interns and college students will clog things
up. Political blowhards will return to
the city after decrying in their home districts and states the poisonous
atmosphere in DC that they themselves create, oblivious to the tranquility of
their absence.

Be even nicer, though, if you could bottle up the sense of
good will, relaxation, and civility in DC now and present it to those who
hijack the charm of our little city on Potomac. They just might learn a thing or two from us natives.

Marc Osgoode Smith has covered – and participated in - Washington DC policy circles for more than two decades as a journalist covering media and as an association and think tank executive. Smith now enjoys his role as a “cultural observer” of DC Politics and the people that engage in them.